May 2002

Customized Content Helps Financial Services Companies Connect with Customers

Think a static list of products and services will inspire your customers to make a lifelong commitment to your financial services institution? Think again.

By Karla Spormann

These days, it's common practice for financial institutions to offer bill payment and other banking services online. The eMarketer Online Banking Report, published by Financial Insite, found that one out of three U.S. households will bank or pay bills online by 2005, a 13% jump from 2001. In 2002, the number of online banking households will be between 24 and 25 million, up from 20 million the previous year.

Those numbers are staggering, so it's no surprise that banking executives say improving customer retention through online customer service is their top business and technology priority of 2002. Yet despite the growing clamor for financial services firms to achieve a multichannel, 360-degree view of customers, not all such institutions actually deliver on that promise. Few understand how to leverage a critical aspect of the online experience: customer-facing content.

Replace lists with dynamic content

In fact, the majority of banks offer little more than a listing of their particular products or services. That information may answer a customer's most basic questions, but it certainly won't educate customers or inspire them to deepen their banking commitment or select new or expanded services.

To achieve such goals, financial institutions must replace static lists with dynamic, targeted online information that helps them define—and deliver on—their particular value propositions. Meaningful, well-crafted content shows that a bank or financial organization understands what kind of information its customers want and need. Offering a combination of fundamental and value-add content proves that a company is uniquely capable of both anticipating and satisfying those needs.

When that happens, customers feel a long-term connection to their bank or financial institution. That connection evokes feelings of trust and being valued-two critical factors driving a customer's decision to invest more deeply in a company's products or services.

Support your customers with content-driven solutions

The good news is that a few financial institutions do understand that targeted online content can help them forge a connection with customers. Wells Fargo Bank is a good example. This site shows that it both considers and values its customers by presenting content resources that speak to financial solutions and support rather than simply products.

By contrast, consider Bank of America. Based on responses from a poll of marketing executives ranking their favorite sites, customer relationship management consultant Jack Aronson recently inducted Bank of America into his "Hall of Shame." One key reason for this dubious honor is the "brochure-like" nature of content on the site. Translation? A long, dull list of products and services. Bank of America fails to acknowledge that its customers might benefit from more comprehensive information; it also fails to distinguish itself from any other financial institution.

Experience and expertise spell success

If satisfying customer needs for solutions with value-add information seems like an easy and obvious way to ensure customer satisfaction and long-term commitment, why do financial institutions consistently overlook it? The answer is clear: Most lack both the understanding and the expertise needed to create compelling customer-facing content. Few Web services firms have experience in developing customized and engaging content.

Tendo fills this gap with our unique approach to customer communications and relationship marketing. Our team of editors, designers, and marketers is expert at understanding the specific needs of an audience, and with more than a century of publishing experience under our collective belt, we understand how to develop content that customers connect with. By creating compelling, relevant words and images, we enable companies to reach out to and retain their customers-and as a result, we help you leverage your online investment to maximum effect.

About the author:

Karla Spormann is the president and founding partner of Tendo Communications.